This is an experimental long devblog. I hope for your positive reaction, it's a very nice moment for me myself to be able to post so much news, while still withholding some updates, trying to keep something unexpected for you at the time of release. And before we begin, i wanna announce some very good news that will be released tomorrow evening (European time) October 27th.

It seems like we were able to make the game fully adaptable to third-party modifications.

Back to today's post

Development update

- Inventory appearance and customization. Along with the reworking of the inventory system, customization has also been added to the game for better interaction. The list of customizable options currently includes:

1. changing the measurement measures. You are free to choose between kilograms and grams to display in your inventory.
   there are plans to add customization of each inventory tab in the future. so, for example, you can keep kilograms for the weapons tab and grams for the ingredients tab;
2. displaying the weight of all items or a single item. Some items may be so many that you have to count a lot to understand their total weight. You can choose between displaying the weight of the entire stack of items or the weight of each item within the stack;

Kilograms. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.

Grams. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.

- Trade changes. Along with the inventory, the trading system also changed:

1. First and foremost, it is a visual change to the window. Item weight has been added to the name in the merchant's inventory, which changes with the displayed weight in the inventory;
2. Trading is now faster. Trading is completely simplified in terms of code without any changes to the gameplay itself;
3. Continuing with the previous, a bug was fixed where the window was always refreshing after purchasing an item;

Grams. Trading Window. Weight of items does not reflect weight on release.

You may notice that some items in the trade window are duplicated, and inside the player's inventory are collected into a stack. It was a rather long point of discussion that still came to one decision, which could still change at release.

Leave items one by one in the trade window - recreate the atmosphere of the trade lot. All the items are lying around and you have to search for them with your eyes. Let's use a simple example. You come to a market stall with a large quantity of vegetables. There are so many that even though they lie side by side - it's hard to count them. You can say that there are a lot of them, but you cannot say for sure that the merchant has 13 tomatoes or 20 cucumbers.

This will still be modified in some way, right now it's just a basic outline. Some merchants will still get stacks in the case that there are SO MANY items. Like, no one's gonna make you scroll through 50 identical items. Certain types of traders will in turn get unique types of trades.

Certain types of merchants will get unique types of trade. Some of them:

1. Food merchants in taverns, restaurants, etc. You will ask for food from these merchants, or trade at all through an NPC-waitress;
2. Atelier. You will be able to order a specific item of clothing from a merchant, or buy something from their stock, for that you'll have to choose clothes at the stands with them, and then just pay. And sure, you'll be able to take clothes and try to steal them. However, be prepared to run away from the guards;
3. Some merchants simply won't give you the opportunity to buy an item right away. Unique, expensive, complex items will need to be ordered in advance and wait for the merchant to create them.

As you might have realized, the main goal here is to create immersion, the atmosphere of something real and very close. Essentially, simply buying food from a tavern can turn into an event, or maybe even a random quest, and buying a strong sword will become valuable not only because of its stats and coin price, but because of the time spent waiting for its production and possible events during it

- Magic. It's been in development for a very long time, in fact the rough outlines of magic were ready a long time ago, even before the development of the game itself

Frequently, magic in games is another way to deliver damage. In some games, this feature is a bit more elaborate, allowing you to summon different creatures, apply effects, and so on. In my vision magic should be interesting, in general - any skills should be interesting, but when talking specifically about magic it should be deep, thought-out mechanics with non-standard spells and an interesting way to use them

Developer jullstud

As already known, magic will be the result of spells cast. Not selecting from the skill menu, not using scrolls with one button, but full spell casting. There are several points arising from this that can be established right now:

1. Unfortunately, there will still be some limitations. Some will have logical reasons behind them, and some will remain hard gameplay limitations. To the second, only those spells that can be useful in combat will remain available to the player during combat. For example, the truthteller spell will definitely not be available during combat, because it won't have any effect;
2. Your character will be able to learn spells, allowing you to cast them without scrolls at hand. Each spell will be quite difficult to learn and will require both theoretical and practical preparation of the character;
3. Without learning, the character will still be able to use scrolls to cast spells. In this case, it will depend directly on magical abilities.

In addition, it is worth understanding that not all the information in the game will be true. Yes, be prepared that some scrolls or characters will naturally try to scam you. Found a scroll abandoned in a cave that promises to enrich you for reading a spell? Don't be surprised if you find yourself trapped a moment afterward (more about traps below);

- Melee weapon. We couldn't leave out the melee battles, giving all the attention to magic alone

I love how the chosen game engine unfolds as the RPG is developed. We have almost unlimited possibilities in our hands to think about every aspect, including combat scenes. We can make not just different enemies, but unique behaviors for each of them within the same classes. That's the strength of text games that I appreciate the most. We're not limited by the complexities of AI behavior, not limited by possible bugs in animations, hitboxes, etc.

Developer jullstud

At this point, everything else is connected to the combat system. Your equipment, character states, enemy states, random events, magic effects, skills, and more. You can choose not only between attack, defense and so on, but also the specific attack skill you want to use, as well as the body part if the chosen skill implies it.

The similar goes for the defense. After each enemy attack, the game rolls dice, similar to a save throws in usual board game systems. The only difference is that this dice roll decides whether your character can defend against an enemy attack or not. In case you are lucky, a selection of defense skills available will appear. For example, if your character is holding a shield you can use it, or if your char are practicing martial arts you may have a special defense skill available. After selecting a skill - also opens the choice of direction. This will be a check specifically for the player, because the game will already tell you where the opponent's attack was directed;

- Traps. At this point, traps are seen as additional challenges for the player, not forced endings. Some will lead to new storylines, some will just delay the player and the like.

Graphic update

- New main menu. New buttons and additional menu windows. In addition to the buttons, the main menu offers news about the game's development, various tips or story notes;

- New pause menu;

Story update

- No particular spoilers, but there are a few more books and locations ready to go. Including the guards' locations.